A Little Bit of Shiku
by xoxfiresignx
Summary: A series of music-inspired drabbles, Shiku or Neki centric. Very AU, rather OOC, and sappy to a tee. Enjoy!
1. 1 to 7

Writer's Block is a pain in the ass. It ruins everything! I haven't been able to write a single, decent story for quite a while. But then, I saw it. There, in the Majin Tantei fanfiction. A brilliant idea . . . the cure for writer's block!

The idea here is to take your favourite pairing, character, whatever, set your music on to shuffle, and write a story based on each song that comes up. I chose to write about Shiki and Neku, seeing as how I've been addicted to WEWY for about two months now.

So, here's the first installment. Seven music-inspired fics about the cutest couple to hit the UG.

Disclaimer: much to my chagrin, I do not own WEWY or any of the characters associated with it (though I really wish I could own Neku). Nor do I own any of the songs mentioned in this story, nor the bands that play them.

_**[WARNING! MAJOR OOC ALERT! WARNING! BE PREPARED FOR SAPPINESS TO THE NTH POWER]**_

--------------------

**Limbo**

inspiration: To Conceive What is by Give My Regards

--

_He'll get me out_, she thought. She kept running his words over and over again in her head.

"_You're Shiki, no matter what you look like."_

"_It's a date."_

She had total confidence in him. She floated in limbo, waiting. _It's only a week,_ she told herself. _One more week 'til I get out of here._

_And you'll be at Hachiko, waiting for me._

_Right, Neku?_

--------------------

**Respect**

inspiration: Respect by Aretha Franklin

--

"Come on" she glared at him. He shook his head, crossing his arms over his chest.

"No way. I'm not gonna say it. OW!" She had hit him. He rubbed his arm, frowning. "What was that for?"

"You are being SUCH a jerk!" she yelled. "Why don't you just admit it? It's not that hard. Or are you too much of a MAN?" She turned away from him. "Whatever. I'll see you around, Neku."

She felt arms wrap around her suddenly from behind. He held her tightly, possessively, and she couldn't help but smile.

"You're right. I would never have made it out of that first game without you. And I DO respect you, Shiki. More than you know."

She turned back to him, still snuggled in his arms. "There. That wasn't so hard, now, was it?"

--------------------

**Improvement**

inspiration: Of All the Gin Joints in the World by Fall Out Boy

--

"You wouldn't like me if you knew what I was really like." Shiki hung her head. "I'm not good enough for you, Neku."

He grabbed her shoulders. "Do you honestly think I'd care? Shiki, before you, all I wanted was another chance at life."

She looked up at him through her lashes. "And now?"

"Now I just want to be wit you, no matter where we are." He grinned. "I'd call that an improvement, wouldn't you?"

--------------------

**Changed**

inspiration: The Good Left Undone by Rise Against

--

Neku hated Shibuya. It was loud, crowded, busy, annoying, frustrating, inconsistent, and just generally headache-inducing.

Except for her.

When he'd first met Shiki, he'd hated her, too. Her extra-cheerfulness, her love of the city he loathed. 'The Stalker' got on his nerves.

But then . . . things changed. Just like the ever-shifting Shibuya, his perception of her began to evolve. He saw her in a different light. She was a single flower in a field where only weeds could grow.

She held his hand as they walked, the bustling of the Scramble Crossing a pleasant soundtrack.

"Neku . . ." she began. He looked at her, and she blushed. "I've been wondering . . . why me?"

He raised her hand to his lips and smiled.

"I've lived among Reapers for so long that I know an angel when I see one."

--------------------

**Erased [WARNING! CHARACTER DEATH]**

inspiration: World Away by Emery

--

"This is what you always wanted, isn't it, Neku?" She was fading, her skin translucent, her voice thin.

"NO!" He tried to grab her hand, but it slipped through his like air. "Don't! No!"

"You said so yourself . . ." she whispered. "You told me to go away. So I am."

"Not like this. God, NOT LIKE THIS!"

But she was gone.

"Congratulations. You've won the Reaper's Game." Neku spun around.

"Give her back, Shades!"

The Reaper shook his head. "Not possible."

"Then erase me!"

Kitanji looked confused. "But you've won. It's what you want."

"No. SHE'S what I want."

Shades shrugged. "Fine."

_I'm sorry we fought. Shiki, I'm coming for you. I love you._

And he faded.

--------------------

**Blame**

inspiration: Your Fault/Last Midnight from the musical Into the Woods

--

"You realize this is all your fault, right?"

Neku gasped. "You're blaming ME? But I . . . I never even TOUCHED that pin!"

"Exactly! If you'd evolved it, then this would never have happened!"

"You should have tried to use it in the first place. You can only use that pig, remember?"

Shiki glared at him. "Mr. Mew is NOT a pig! But anyway, YOU told me this pin wouldn't do anything!"

"Because that's what Princess K told me, okay? She said it wouldn't work unless it evolved, and there are more important pins to deal with right now."

"But . . . am I STUCK like this? I mean . . . I can't get it off, no matter what I try!"

Neku didn't even bother to hide his smirk. "Well, I think you look rather cute as a Gothic Princess."

She slapped him.

"That's the last time I buy an appearance modifying pin from Lapin Angelique."

She stalked back toward A-East, a chuckling Neku following in her black-laced, ribbon-adorned wake.

--------------------

**Gratitude**

inspiration: A Thousand Suns by Hey Rosetta!

--

Hands grabbed him from every side, touching, patting, and holding him. A chorus of voices filled his ears, shouting, whispering, crying out to him, all the same words:

"Thank you Neku! Thank you so much! You saved us. All of us!"

He smiled at them, nodding, trying to acknowledge them all, to say "you're welcome" without words.

Sota and Nao stood in front of him, grinning. "Thanks, Nekky!" Nao hugged him, hard. "If it weren't for you, we'd all still be in limbo."

"Or still players." Sota added. "Thanks, man."

"It was nothing." Neku smiled back, feeling a wave of affection for both of them engulf him. He leaned in toward them. "Have you seen —"

They stepped back, grinning even more widely, and the world seemed to fall silent around him. There she was, her hair dark, her clothes rather frumpy, but her eyes glowing, her smile radiant.

He ran to her, lifted her in his arms, and spun her around as she laughed with pure, unabashed joy. His headphones fell off his ears and smashed on the pavement, but he didn't care.

"Thank you," she whispered, when he set her down.

"No, thank YOU." he whispered back. She looked up at him, confused, and he kissed her cheek gently. "For giving me something to fight for."

--------------------

AND SCENE!

Now, I've always wondered what happens to people that are taken as entry fees. So I'm just operating under the assumption that they get sent to this SUPREMELY boring place where the float around for a week, called Limbo. Awesomely inventive, isn't it? I'd be a master pin-wielder for sure, with my Imagination.

Hope you like it! There will be more, as I try harder and harder to break out of this funk my writing's been in lately.


	2. 8 to 15

Hello everyone! First, I want to THANK ALL OF YOU WHO REVIEWED! It was really nice to hear your thoughts, and I'm glad you guys all like these stories.

These next eight are all a little longer than the ones before. I got a little carried away. And a few of them actually have a Neku who's . . . dare I say it? . . . In. Character.

Yes, I know. It seems impossible. But it worked! One of them is the Neku from the first week (you know, kinda pissed at the world, not caring about anything at all, but with a smidgen of a heart). The other just has Neku being awkward. Awkward Neku is adorable.

Disclaimer: I don't own WEWY. Don't remind me.

_**[WARNING! MORE SAPPINESS! BE CAREFUL, IT MAY HURT YOU]**_

--------------------

**Essence [WARNING! NOT ENTIRELY ROMANCE]**

inspiration: Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day

--

The back streets of Udagawa were almost always empty. One could definitely find solace there; shelter from the overwhelming noise and business of Shibuya. Those streets and the CAT-designed murals that adorned them seem to define and condone solitude.

It was these murals that Neku turned to when he was lonely. They seemed to tell him that he didn't need anyone else, that he had to look out for number one, that all the world needed was him. He felt bolstered, confident, strong.

He stood in front of those swirling images, tracing the outlines with his eyes. The pictures shouted at him: _Carpe Diem! Live in the moment! The world is yours!_

And it was true, the world WAS his. He was fine on his own. He didn't need anyone else.

His cellphone beeped, and he twitched instinctively before tugging it out of his pocket.

_Get to Spain Hill. You have 10 minutes. Incompletes will be dumped._

Grinning, he set off at a run. One really WAS the loneliest number. And if two was company and three was a crowd, then four must be overwhelming. But as he turned from Tipsy Tose Hall onto Spain Hill and into Shiki's arms as she and Rhyme laughed at Beat's feeble attempts to pull off some new 'sick tricks', Neku couldn't help but think that 'overwhelming' was what Shibuya was all about.

--------------------

**Rejection**

inspiration: Misery Business by Paramore

--

They met in Udagawa. It was Neku's favourite place, after all, and once he'd explained its signifigance, it became Shiki's favourite place as well.

"If it weren't for what happened here," she often said. "We would never have met."

They walked together back towards town. As they descended the concrete stairs, Neku suddenly spoke.

"Eri asked me out."

Shiki sighed. "Did she." Her voice was monotonous. She'd known it would happen. Just a few days before, the red-head fashion queen has expressed her interest in the music-addict, and Shiki (being a good friend) had extressed her own untruthful well-wishes. To be honest, the thought of Eri and Neku together made her sick.

"I said no."

Shiki tripped and almost fell down the stairs. She was only spared a forceful encounter with the pavement and a second untimely death by Neku, who grabbed her by the waist and pulled her tight against him. Her heart poounded as she got her balance back — from not from her near-death experience. Neku held her closely, his arms wrapped around her skinny frame.

Finally, she pulled away, feeling an immediate loss of warmth and comfort as she took a step back.

"You rejected ERI?!"

He stared. "Yeah . . ."

"But — but . . ." she spluttered. "But you're always staring at her!"

"So what?" He raised an eyebrow.

"Well . . ." She couldn't help but blush when he looked at her like that. "Usually, when someone stares at someone else like that, it means that they have . . . you know, FEELINGS for them."

"Yeah . . ." He was looking at her as though she had lost her mind.

"So you DO like her!:

"NO! Shiki, you're not making any sense at all!"

"But you just said —" he stopped her by stepping forward. He was only inches away from her now.

"Think about it, Shiki," he whispered, sliding his hand down her arms and making her shiver. "It's not Eri who I associate with that body." And he kissed her.

--------------------

**Eat**

inspiration: Super-Size-U by Stage4

--

"Let's go to Sunshine. I'm thinking about getting fat."

Neku stared at his girlfriend in shock. "What do you mean?"

Shiki shrugged. "Well, EVERYBODY is skinny like this," she said, gesturing at her flat stomach. "But it's the fat girls who draw peoples' eyes."

"And why would you want that?" Neku gripped her hand almost violently

"I want to be different, you know?"

"Different?!" Neku spluttered. "Shiki, you're the clothes producer for the biggest independent label in Japan. You survived three weeks in the fricken' Reaper's Game. You have a stuffed cat-pig-thing that fights Noise, for God's sake! You can't get much more different than that!" She blushed, hanging her head. "But— " he added. "If you really want to, go ahead. I'll love you no matter what you look like. Actually —" A sudden thought struck him. "I'm going to FORCE you to get fat, so then no one but me will want you and I won't have to keep fighting off all your fanboys!"

Excited, he started running toward Shibukyu, dragging a horrified Shiki sputtering "Neku, I was kidding. KIDDING!" behind him.

--------------------

**Rebel**

inspiration: Golden by Fall Out Boy

--

"Why don't your parents like me?" Neku's eyues were sad and searching. "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing, I promise." Shiki hugged him. "They just think your friendship is a bad influence. Since I started hanging out with you, I've started to listen to loud music and stopped trying to design my own clothes."

"Hmph." He let out a huff of air; then, suddenly, his eyes glowed and he slid his arms around her waist. "So my 'friendship' is a bad influence, eh?" He grinned wickedly. "What do you think they'd say if we started dating?"

Her eyes widened, and she grinned back. "They'd probably say you were a WORSE influence," she said, pulling close to him. "But teenagers are supposed to rebel, aren't they?"

--------------------

**Necessity [WARNING! A MOSTLY IN-CHARACTER NEKU! WHAT?!]**

inspiration: Earthquake by The Used

--

"I can't stop thinking about the game." she whispered, wrapping her arms around her knees. "I have dreams about what would have happened if we'd never become friends."

"We would have been erased." He wasn't one to mince words.

The sun was setting over Dogenzaka. The orange light illuminated her face, glistening in her hair. "So we're only friends by necessity?"

He shrugged, avoiding her eyes. "I guess so."

She stood up and shot him one final look before turning and making her way toward the stairwell.

"But Shiki —" he called, still not standing, not turning. "It's still necessary."

She paused, her hand on the door handle; then she turned and went back to him, sitting beside him and leaning against his shoulder. He put his arm around her, still not looking at her, and from the roof of Pork City they watched the sun sink below the buildings and out of sight.

--------------------

**Escape**

inspiration: Easier to Run by Linkin Park

--

She was packing, stuffing all her clothes unceremoniously into a cardboard box.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" She spun around to see his orange-haired figure leaning against her doorframe. _Of course_. She turned away from him, swallowing hard.

"Packing. Why are you here?"

He came in and stood beside her, pulling things out of the box and examining them. "Your parents called me. They want me to talk some sense into you." He grabbed her wrist and forced her to face him. "You can't just _leave._"

She wrenched away and turned her back on him. "I certainly can," she snapped — but her voice was trembling. "I just . . . I can't be here anymore. I can't keep seeing these places . . Where I died, where we fought Noise, where Rhyme —" She broke off, shaking her head. "It's easier to run."

He stepped toward her and pulled her against his chest.

"It may be easier to run, but you're stronger than that. These feelings are things you have to face and conquer. And that's something I know you can do. I'll help you, I promise." She was shaking, and he felt her tears on his neck. "Besides," he added in a whisper, stroking her hair. "_I_ need you here."

--------------------

**Appreciation**

inspiration: Sweet Talk by The Killers

--

"Do you have any idea what you mean to me?" Neku said, out of nowhere. Shiki looked around; they had stopped in the middle of the Scramble, and people were giving them strange looks as they rushed by.

"Uhh . . . no?" she answered, trying to push him along, but he stayed firmly in place.

"You lifted me up, took me over, lifted the burden from my shoulders, removed the chains, cleared my view, freed my mind, held my hand, and let me fly." He was staring at her seriously.

She was so red and warm, she felt she might explode. "Uh . . . what brought THAT on?"

Grinning, he pointed up at the Q-Floor screen, which proclaimed in massive letters 'APPRECIATE YOUR LOVED ONES'.

She smacked his shoulder and dragged him out of the middle of the road. But she couldn't held thinking about what he'd said.

"You're delusional," she said, sometime later when they sat down to lunch.

"Huh?" He shot her a quizzical look.

"You can_not_ fly." She tossed a fry at him.

"Maybe not," he shrugged. "But when I'm with you, it feels like I can."

--------------------

**Breakfast [WARNING! NEKU IS AWKWARD AND EMBARRASSED]**

inspiration: These Nights are Long by So They Say

--

He couldn't sleep. He lay awake in the darkness, thinking. About _her_.

"Goddamnit!" he growled, crushing a pillow over his face. He forced himself to think of soothing things like fighting Noise and playing Tin Pin, but everything led back to _her_ and made his heart race.

Finally, he gave up. As he grabbed his iPod, he heard quiet clinks from the kitchen, and smelled bacon.

He snuck downstairs and peered into the kitchen. He was so shocked that he fell over. She turned around.

"Oh," she smiled. "You're awake."

"Shiki," he groaned, pushing himself up off the floor. "What on earth are you doing here at 5 a.m.?"

She shrugged. "I couldn't sleep, so I thought I'd break in and make up breakfast." He stared, incredulous. She blushed. "You see, it's really hard to sleep when I'm thinking about you, Neku."

--------------------

AND SCENE!

These don't have as many aspects of the game as the first set, but hopefully it doesn't retract from the stories.

For the record, I now have 471 hrs and 44 mins clocked. I really hope that they count mingle time, because that's just depressing. I haven't even finished the pin report yet.


	3. 16 to 24

Sorry for the long, long, LONG delay (yes, I know, it's been over a year). I've just finished high school, so I kind of needed to focus on that. I hope you can understand and not hate me!

Anyway, these one-shots are my Writer's Block cure, so I just need to come back to them from time to time, right?

There's some sad ones in here, sorry about that. These ones aren't as good as my other ones, but I hope you like them anyway! They're also mostly Shiki-centric, whereas my other ones were usually Neku-centric. I wanted to branch out.

Disclaimer_:_ I don't own WEWY. I cry myself to sleep over it almost nightly.

_**[WARNING! SAPPINESS WILL EAT YOU WHILE YOU SLEEP!]**_

**Morbidity  
**inspiration: A Song for the Dead by Queens of the Stone Age  
- -

"Do you realize how morbid we are?"

That statement was enough to make Neku stop in his tracks and stare at her. "What do you mean?"

She shrugged. "We met when we were dead. Our entire relationship is based on the fact that we _died_." She shuddered a bit and pressed closer to his side. "We're like, closet necrophiliacs, or something."

Neku snorted derisively. "Seriously? That's kind of sick, Shi."

She blushed and glared simultaneously, both flattered by the casual shortening of her name and annoyed at his response. "It's true! We're so weird!"

Neku shook his head and they walked on.

The next day, he bought a new car. When he took her out that night, he picked her up in a herse.  
- -

**Frozen  
**inspiration: Machine Gun Baby by Meriwether  
- -

He knew that she was dangerous. When he'd met her in the game she'd been happy-go-lucky, ready to take on the world, irrepressible and optimistic. She'd annoyed him with her light, her "it's okay" attitude. But after a while, he started thinking that way himself. Her way of thinking was infectious, and he had willingly swallowed her poison and discovered that it wasn't poison at all, but an antidote.

She, on the other hand, ate a different sort of poison; the venom that the big guy, Higashizawa, left little trails of in her heart. He told her she was jealous, heartless, cold. He told her that she wasn't worth anything. And she had believed it.

Since leaving the game she had become more and more isolated, more and more frozen. She lost herself in fits of self-destructive behaviour. She had slashes on her wrists, alcohol on her lips, and deadened eyes.

But Neku stayed, because she had chosen him. Somewhere in her heart, she loved him.

And God, he wouldn't be the one who abandoned her.  
- -

**Repetition [WARNING! REALLY SHORT AND BAD!]  
**inspiration: Histrionics by The Higher  
- -

They were walking together, which they did rather often. Holding hands, smiling, talking about this or that or the other thing. Then the deranged-looking man appeared as if from nowhere before them, waving a gun, and they both knew what would happen.

They looked into each other's eyes as the gun flashed. History repeats itself, after all. And it wasn't as though they could die that easily.  
- -

**Reasons [WARNING! SAD]  
**inspiration: Noro by Brand New  
- -

The harsh, high-pitched beeps were the only background noise to his breathing, the two sounds mingling into one depressing soundtrack. She sat beside the bed in a cold, uncomfortable chair. His hand was in hers, and she noted, not for the first time, how much weight he'd lost. She felt the familiar pressure behind her eyes and squeezed them tightly together, so tightly that they hurt. But the tears stayed locked within her.

She hadn't cried yet. She wouldn't start now.

"Why . . . are . . you still . . .?" Neku's voice trailed off pathetically. She opened her eyes and looked up at him. Even in this thin, weak state, he was still the man she loved, the one she had loved for nearly twenty years.

"Because you're my everything." She didn't like the sound of that, so she started over. "Because you're you, Neku. And you're the only person in the world I really care about."

His eyes closed slowly, but she detected a small smile on his lips. "That's good . . . enough . . . for me." he mumbled vaguely, slipping back into sleep.

She held his hand, and all she heard were the beeping of the monitors and the sound of his breathing.  
- -

**Distance  
**inspiration: By My Side by 3 Doors Down  
- -

"It's not that far away," she said for the umpteenth time, trying to coax the frown from his lips. It didn't work; he was too focussed on the boxes of Shiki's belongings that were being loaded into the back of her mother's green mini-van (her dad drove a red Mustang and refused to admit that the van belonged to him).

"Two hours," he grumbled.

She sighed. "Look, Neku, we knew this day would come." She crossed her arms over her chest and glared at him, giving him a no-nonsense look that he ignored. "It's university, it was bound to happen eventually."

"Yes, but why couldn't you stay local, like I am? Why do you have to move two hours away?"

She smacked him on the shoulder. "You know that they don't offer my program around here!"

He sighed. He did know. He was just trying to delay the inevitable. "This could be the last time you're here by my side." he lamented sorrowfully.

Shiki rolled her eyes. "Don't be such a drama queen." Then she wrapped her arms around him and kissed his cheek. "You're coming up on the weekend, right?"

He hugged her back, tightly. "Of course I am. It's only two hours away, after all."  
- -

**Church  
**inspiration: On the Cross by the Used  
- -

Shiki called him on a Sunday morning, which was unusual. Usually, she was at church. Usually, he was sleeping.

"What`s wrong?" he asked groggily, sitting up in bed. "Aren't you supposed to be on your knees right about now?"

"Pervert," she snapped. He grinned. "I left."

That wiped the grin off his face. "You just walked out of church?"

"Yep."

"Wow. Why?"

"It's just all so bogus, you know?" He could hear her frustration in the way she clipped her consonants short, an endearing vocal trait of hers. "I've _seen_ what happens after death. It's nothing like heaven or hell." He thought about that for a moment; he couldn't deny that she was right. He opened her mouth to tell her so, but then she spoke again. "Besides, the only thing I worship now is you."  
- -

**Ghosts  
**inspiration: What's it Feel Like to be a Ghost by Taking Back Sunday  
- -

"What does it feel like to be a ghost?" he asked her, one day when they sat together in her bedroom, listening to music. She looked at him quizzically. "Doesn't it ever feel like you're not here?" he continued, making his earlier question a rhetorical one. "Like sometimes people look right through you, and you could just evaporate and no one would see?"

She tilted her head back on his shoulder and bit the inside of her cheek, thinking. "I guess so," she said carefully, after a while. "I mean, I feel like that sometimes. But then I think about the people who _can_ see me, and the other people don't matter." He breathed in the scent of her hair while she spoke. "I mean, as long as I'm real and tangible and _here_ for Rhyme, and Beat . . . and you . . . then that's all that really matters, right?"

He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her shoulder. "Right."  
- -

**Survive  
**inspiration: Knights of Cydonia by Muse  
- -

She awoke, sweating and shivering, from the dream. It wasn't a nightmare, not really, because nightmares implied things that weren't real. The things she dreamed about now _were_ real, and she'd experienced them, and she had somehow survived.

She kicked herself out of the tangled covers — which had tied themselves into a series of complicated knots while she tossed and turned in her sleep — and moved directly to her window. Even though it was January and a light snow was falling, she slid the glass across and let the cold air blow solidly through the thin mesh screen and over her exposed skin.

She stared at the stars, thinking. She had fought and survived, over and over and over again. She had felt the pain of losing dear friends, she had felt the fear of knowing your own death was right in front of you, and she'd survived. But not alone. She could never have done it alone.

She stared at the stars, thinking, knowing that halfway across town, he was doing the same thing.  
- -

**Famous  
**inspiration: Who's Got It? By IllScarlett  
- -

He watched her from a distance, feeling slightly uncomfortable about the sheer number of people that milled around him, singing along with her angelic voice. He wished they wouldn't; he had braved the throng of tweens to hear _her_, not their pale, off-key imitations of her.

Shiki had miraculously become a rock star, seemingly overnight. Def Märch had heard her singing along to one of their songs while she and Neku listened to his iPod, and they decided that her voice would be the perfect addition to their band. So they'd recorded a new version of that particular song with her singing, released it, and now she was famous. Just like that.

Neku couldn't help feeling a little bit possessive as he watched her. He noticed that several boys near him were watching her with hungry expressions in their eyes, and he smirked.

Shiki may have suddenly gained fame, popularity, and a massive fan base, but Neku had Shiki.

Who was the real winner here?  
- -

AND SCENE!

I've just been looking over my old stories and realized that they are really hard to read because of the formatting, so I've tried to fix it up for this one.


End file.
